[ LETTER ]

A Graduated Tax Would Stir Support for Immigration Reform

Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 11:58 p.m.

In 2002 I emigrated from Jamaica to Florida. I am a graduate of Auburndale High School and Wake Forest University, and a graduate student at Yale currently studying as the Lakeland Rotary Club's ambassadorial scholar in Denmark.

It is my dream that the embracing of the egalitarian ethos that is at the core of an America that has always been a nation of immigrants and a country that prides itself on its propensity for compassion and making the pursuit of happiness and self-actualization a possibility to motivated, ambitious and industrious individuals will again be celebrated as part of America's national character and reflected in the nation's policies.

I implore our nation's legislators to be on the right side of morality in pursuing comprehensive immigration reform. But I'm aware that the moral argument may not be enough to sway public opinion.

I believe in compromise and the benefits of symbiotic relationships. The economic argument for providing a pathway to legal residential status for undocumented immigrants is a convincing one.

A 2010 study by the Center for American Progress postulated that legalizing undocumented immigrants could increase their incomes and result in the economy being infused with an additional $36 billion yearly. I suggest that a gradient tax rate scheme be devised whose application would be contingent on the attainment of a certain income.

For the first five years have them pay a 25 percent federal income tax rate, then the next five years 30 percent, then 35 percent for five more years, then 40 percent and 45 percent for the following two five-year periods. After this initial 25-year period, they'd pay a tax rate that is commensurate with their income like any other American as dictated by the current tax code.

Undocumented immigrants would get legal status, conservatives could point to this as sound fiscal policy, and the liberals could argue that this is good social policy.

<p>In 2002 I emigrated from Jamaica to Florida. I am a graduate of Auburndale High School and Wake Forest University, and a graduate student at Yale currently studying as the Lakeland Rotary Club's ambassadorial scholar in Denmark.</p><p>It is my dream that the embracing of the egalitarian ethos that is at the core of an America that has always been a nation of immigrants and a country that prides itself on its propensity for compassion and making the pursuit of happiness and self-actualization a possibility to motivated, ambitious and industrious individuals will again be celebrated as part of America's national character and reflected in the nation's policies.</p><p>I implore our nation's legislators to be on the right side of morality in pursuing comprehensive immigration reform. But I'm aware that the moral argument may not be enough to sway public opinion.</p><p>I believe in compromise and the benefits of symbiotic relationships. The economic argument for providing a pathway to legal residential status for undocumented immigrants is a convincing one.</p><p>A 2010 study by the Center for American Progress postulated that legalizing undocumented immigrants could increase their incomes and result in the economy being infused with an additional $36 billion yearly. I suggest that a gradient tax rate scheme be devised whose application would be contingent on the attainment of a certain income.</p><p>For the first five years have them pay a 25 percent federal income tax rate, then the next five years 30 percent, then 35 percent for five more years, then 40 percent and 45 percent for the following two five-year periods. After this initial 25-year period, they'd pay a tax rate that is commensurate with their income like any other American as dictated by the current tax code.</p><p>Undocumented immigrants would get legal status, conservatives could point to this as sound fiscal policy, and the liberals could argue that this is good social policy.</p><p>Everybody wins.</p><p>TERROL GRAHAM</p><p>Auburndale</p>